


Stormy Weather

by lunacchiii



Series: Born To Be Blue (Joshua Graham/Courier Six) [1]
Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: Developing Friendships, Developing Relationship, Drama, F/M, Friends to whatever the hell they are right now, Honest Hearts DLC, Is it love? Lust? No one knows, Minor Courier/Craig Boone, Minor Courier/Rose of Sharon Cassidy, Mutual Pining, Pillow Talk, Pining, Shameless Smut, Smut, Unresolved Romantic Tension, Very Good Karma Courier
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-25
Updated: 2020-08-25
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:34:57
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26105038
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunacchiii/pseuds/lunacchiii
Summary: The longer Courier Six stayed in Zion, the closer she and the Burned Man became.On one particularly rainy day in the valley, a misunderstanding and overanalysis of a situation causes the Courier to momentarily consider severing their growing relationship. It eventually gets resolved, and Joshua Graham surprises her with something she never saw coming.
Relationships: Courier/Joshua Graham, Female Courier/Joshua Graham, Joshua Graham (Fallout)/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Born To Be Blue (Joshua Graham/Courier Six) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1909990
Comments: 4
Kudos: 29





	Stormy Weather

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, this is a Courier/Joshua Graham fanfic in 2020. Yes, I got into Fallout: New Vegas 10 years after its release. Please don't clown me for this lmao  
> The Courier Six in here is my canon Courier, Rhea! She's my high-CHA, high-INT, rootin' tootin' cowgirl. She has a really stellar karma level, and she's also got high Speech+Medicine+Repair+Science stats, so I hope that my writing is able to reflect some of those traits.
> 
> (P.S. I think I might have written Graham a little too suave/smooth. I have no idea either he's kinda difficult to write)
> 
> Anyways, enjoy!

When word reached Joshua Graham about the arrival of a Courier that happened to be hardy enough to survive an ambush by the White Horses, he thought it was his past finally catching up on him. However, instead of the person he was expecting, a woman with bobbed black hair, emerald-green eyes, and a sniper rifle slung on her back strode into Angel Cave and introduced herself amicably to him.

Maybe it wasn’t his time yet, and God still had plans for him.

In the span of just a few months, the Courier—whose name he later learned was Rhea—went from being a potential threat to the safety of the tribes of Zion Valley, to a trusted confidant of both the Dead Horses and the Sorrows. Upon joining the Happy Trails caravan company, she was already wary of rumors and retellings of encounters with the Burned Man. When Rhea finally met him in person, she kept things extra civil and friendly as she always does during first encounters, but she made a mental note of the closest sidearm she could reach for…in case things go downhill. Her precaution proved to be a good idea, as she later learned about how the Burned Man’s reputation did truly come from his ruthlessness to kill out of justice or protection of his people. Knowing that, the lost Courier ultimately had little choice but to help out Joshua Graham and Daniel.

Days and weeks flew by as Rhea ran errands in the valley and cordially offered an extra arm of protection over the tribes—actions Graham was deeply grateful for. Additionally, both the Sorrows and the Dead Horses also came to appreciate her deeds and her willingness to learn more about their culture as well, which greatly increased their morale even though they were on the verge of a bloody clash against the White Legs. Graham was secretly surprised about how easily she had gained the trust and good faith of the tribes of Zion Valley. A large part of him fully expected her to wake up one day and kill everyone in cold blood so she could move on with her life—he knew she was capable of that—but that doubt diminished over time as he got to know her better. Whenever she wasn’t out scouting for supply caches or rare medicinal plants in the valley, she often hung around in Angel Cave, either helping Graham clean out pistols, or sitting at the workbench and maintaining her own gear. He watched her work from time to time, and he grew to admire the versatility in her abilities. The way that Rhea could patch up multiple bullet wounds and repair armor badly mangled by a Yao Guai…but also blow a White Leg’s head off from fifty yards away made him start to think God was finally answering his prayers for a way to help the tribes—and, in a way, himself—to break free from the Legion’s impending grasp.

Since Rhea arrived in the valley, their conversations used to only consist of purely formal and logistic discussions about the White Legs. However, as they spent more time around each other, Graham started to share more about his past to her, and in turn she updated him on the state of the Legion as well as the other big factions in Nevada. On some nights that Rhea stayed near the Dead Horses’ campsite, she’d often tell fireside stories about her own adventures in the Mojave to the children there. Occasionally, Graham would silently listen in, curious to know more about the person she was before she arrived in Zion Valley. As they talked and worked together day by day, the growing mutual respect that the Courier and the Burned man both had for each other was also being solidified as trust in the meantime.

On one particularly humid day in June, the rumbling of thunder could be heard moving into the valley. First the sky turned grey, and then one drop—then two drops—then a thousand and more drops of rain crashed down onto the southern Utah soil. A heavy storm had settled in the Zion Valley for the evening, and Joshua Graham was helping the Dead Horses move weapons, tents, and other belongings indoors and into their caves. Eventually he came across a particularly large crate of supplies that proved difficult to move. Right as he was about to call over Follows-Chalk to help him, he heard a familiar voice chime in through the pouring rain.

“Hey! Need a hand?” The Courier came running out, shouting through the loud racket of rain hitting rock. With the combined strength of four hands, the crate finally budged, and they were able to move it inside of Angel Cave. Once they were finally indoors, Rhea slicked back her wet black hair as she looked out the cave entrance. “Looks like it’s going to be raining for a while,” she pointed out.

“It seems that way. You’re welcome to stay here first, if you want,” Graham offered as he knelt down to the fire pit to start a fire. Of course, Rhea wasn’t looking forward to set up camp outdoors while the rain was still pouring down, so she accepted his offer. “I think I will. Thank you,” she replied, walking over to the fire to dry herself off.

Rhea made some squirrel stew over the fire as Graham did an inventory check of all the supplies and crates they pulled out of the rain. After he was done, he sat down directly across from Rhea at the fire pit, and they casually discussed more plans in dealing with the White Legs as they ate their dinner. After finishing their food, they remained at the fire for a while; Rhea tinkered around with her Pip-Boy, while Graham pulled out his Bible and read silently.

…

“Courier—Rhea, can I be frank with you?” he suddenly asked her, his gaze switching from the Bible in his hands to meet with Rhea’s green eyes, tinted slightly amber from the warm glow of the campfire.

Rhea, confused—and for some reason, nervous—about what Graham had to say, raised her brows and nodded slightly as she took a swig from her water canteen. “Sure. What is it?”

“I just wanted to say that I appreciate everything you have done for us. It’s incredibly generous of you to help us, and I assure you once the ordeal with the White Legs has been taken care of…” Graham says, closing his Bible, “We’ll…do everything to help you return to the Mojave safely.”

Rhea noticed the tone in Graham’s voice turning strangely somber towards the end of his reassurance, but she wasn’t brave enough to press him further on that detail just yet. “Thank you,” she replied simply, her fingers restlessly fidgeting the cap of her canteen.

The silence that was once comforting soon turned awkwardly suffocating, and Rhea decides to step out of it by using the dishes as an excuse. She picks up her bowl, then gets up and walks over to Graham’s side to pick up his bowl. “No, it’s okay. I’ll do it myself,” he replied almost a little too harshly and abruptly, startling Rhea.

“Alright, then,” she replied under her breath bitterly as she turned around and walked over to the small water-basin in one corner of the cave. Something in her brain compelled her to stop and confront Graham, however. Following her instincts, she set the bowls on a nearby table, and turned back around to see Graham staring silently at the fire with a serious look in his eyes.

“Graham, you’re…planning to kill me, aren’t you?” she asked him, her voice cutting through the palpable tension in the air.

“What?”

“Ever since I arrived here, you never intended for me to make it back…right? Look, I…I know how you work, and I don’t blame you if my presence here threatens you. I’m also well aware of how hard you are to kill, and, I don’t know, maybe you might kill me instead. Is that why you hesitated when you said you’d help me return?” Rhea asked him truthfully, her voice growing louder. She couldn’t believe the words coming out from her mouth either. Just when she thought she found somebody she could actually trust and confide in, to help her survive in this foreign land—maybe he was planning to kill her all this time. Maybe he only needed to use her abilities like a tool, and maybe he used his religion to fool her into thinking he was truly a good man.

Graham was silent, but there was an expression of astonishment visible in his eyes. As he got up and walked over to her, Rhea’s hand darted to the pistol poking out from her pocket.

“Shit. Just when I thought…I actually cared about you,” she confessed, her fingers firmly wrapping around the pistol’s grip.

Upon hearing that remark, Graham stopped in his tracks.

“Rhea.”

“What?” The Courier grumbled, taking a step further back from Graham.

“Would you take your hand off your pistol for a moment and explain? I don’t know where you’re getting the idea that I’m going to kill you.”

Hearing the sincerity and pure confusion in Graham’s voice this time, she let go of the pistol’s grip and made a beeline to the worn mattress located in the very back of the cave, her designated sleeping corner for the night. Rhea sat down wearily, cradling her head in her hands. Graham walked over and sat down next to her, placing a hand on her shoulder.

“If you need my most honest assurance, I was not going to kill you. I have no intentions of doing so. As I said before, you’re a good neighbor to us—you have been, from the very start—and not only would it be a sin to do such a thing, it would be unreasonable and…impractical.”

Rhea turned to Graham. “Then why did you hesitate like that when you told me you were going to help me return to Nevada?” She asked him, her voice starting to shake slightly.

Graham looked at her, his gaze turning wistful. “Because I respect you and I’ve also come to care for you…and truthfully, I’d prefer it if you stayed. At least for a while longer.”

Rhea sighed a shaky sigh of relief, but smiled to herself at the sheer absurdity of the predicament that she had now gotten herself into. _Great, the Courier cares about the religious ex-Legate. He just so happens to care about her too. What could go wrong?_ She thought, falling back into the mattress.

“Well, I guess that’s out of the way then. Please, just…disregard everything I said earlier,” Rhea declared in a sarcastic tone as she stared up at the cave ceiling.

She felt the mattress dip down beside her, and she turned to see Graham lying down next to her. “If you say so,” he chuckled, turning to face her.

Graham brushed away a loose strand of black hair from Rhea’s face as she stared back at him intently, almost as if she were trying to memorize every detail of his bandaged face in the dim light of the fire in the cave. Distant, echoey noises of heavy rain thundering down upon Zion Valley could be heard coming from the entrance of the cave. But despite how loud the storm was, nothing else existed in the world at that moment for the two of them. No Legion, no NCR, no White Legs. Just the Burned Man—and a Courier that he never expected to meet.

“Does this hurt for you?” Rhea asked him, peering straight into his icy blue eyes as her hand gently cupped his cheek. “Touch, in general, I mean.”

“A little, but it’s nothing life-threatening,” Graham replied as his hand moved to his jaw, tugging down the bandages that covered his mouth. “At least it doesn’t hurt when I do this.”

Before Rhea could ask him what he meant by “this”, he kissed her.

The strange texture of the healed burns on his lips were quite foreign—although not repulsive or unwelcome—to Rhea. She gasped in surprise, but soon enough she was sighing softly against his mouth. As he pulled back a few seconds later, Rhea yanked him back into another kiss, this time a deeper and more hurried one. Her hands clutched around his back as her lips parted open to welcome his tongue. She kissed him as if she was going to draw out every breath from his lungs with her lips, and he seemed to be okay with that. Whatever pain Graham said he had before had completely gone over his head. A faintly familiar sensation of pleasant adrenaline seared through his body like a wildfire as Rhea clung tighter to him. He started to roam his hands along her back and waist, feeling the way her edges and curves fit just right in his hold.

Graham sat up and dextrously undid the laces on her cotton blouse as Rhea reached behind herself to unclasp her bra, revealing her ample breasts that spilled out delicately once the garment was fully off her chest. He then pulled Rhea to sit upright as well, then knelt down in front of her to kiss her again as his hands cupped her breasts, teasing the nipples with his thumbs. The rough sensation of the bandages on Graham’s hand repeatedly brushing Rhea’s sensitive chest sent goosebumps crawling through her skin, and she felt a familiar wetness start to pool between her legs.

As Graham let go of her breasts, Rhea felt his deft hands working together once more to unzip her pants and peel them off as soon as possible, and she shook them off right as they were coming down her calves. When he stopped momentarily to unravel a portion of bandages from his hands, Graham felt the mattress shake slightly—and he looked up to see Rhea shimmying out of her underwear. She laughed shyly, and he lets out a deep chuckle that rumbles through Rhea’s bones, causing the gradually-fading goosebumps to return in full force. He shifted closer to her and gently pried her legs apart to settle between them as she lay back sheepishly. In doing so, Rhea shuddered from the rough touch of his calloused fingertips on her inner thighs, and she holds her breath as she feels him part her wet lips with his thumbs.

She immediately felt like her body had erupted into flames the moment she felt his tongue on her. He readily lapped against her folds, holding her down with his firm forearms locking over her thighs as her legs start to shake. As he pressed the flat of his tongue harder on her sensitive nub, Rhea couldn’t help but let out a loud whine.

“Yes…fuck, right there,” she moaned out breathily, clutching onto the mattress with one hand and glancing down below to find Graham looking back up to her with his steely eyes. He then removed his grip on her right thigh to insert a finger, which forces out another straggled cry from Rhea. He then puts in another finger right away, and switches to sucking directly on her clit as he pumped in and out of her with his hand. Rhea’s hips jerk about erratically, the growing pleasure in the pit of her stomach feeling like it’s about to explode. All that she was aware of in the moment was the mind-numbing noises of the ongoing storm outside, which blended in almost seamlessly with the lewd sounds of her pleasure.

Seconds later, her body decides it has had enough—the universe finally snaps into a crunch behind her eyes, and she yelps out her release as she clenches and spasms hard around Graham’s fingers.

A considerable amount of sweat had already beaded out on her forehead as she panted out the aftermath of her orgasm. As Rhea was recovering, Graham moved up from his previous position and back onto the mattress to kiss her briefly, letting her taste the slight saltiness of her own arousal. She feels his hand gently wrap around her neck almost possessively as he kisses her, causing her breath to hitch in her throat. In an effort to try to get back at him, she traces her tongue along his bottom lip as her hand reaches out to stroke his lower abdomen, and his brow perks up in response.

“My turn,” Rhea tells Graham, her voice thick with arousal. She pushes him over to the other side—a light shove, of course, but he complies willingly—and his back lands with a dull _thud_ on the old mattress. She straddles his hips as her hands hastily rip out the Velcro fasteners on his hefty bulletproof vest. As he propped himself up with his elbows to fully take his vest off, Rhea decides to tease him by reaching behind her to give him a light squeeze between his legs, causing his cool and collected composure to falter slightly. She rubs her palm slowly along his still-clothed length as she looks down at him, watching his dark brows knot together.

She stops her actions for a moment, and rests her hands on her thighs. “Please tell me if anything hurts you, okay? I’ll stop immediately,” she assures him as the lustful expression in her emerald eyes turned into a shade of concern.

“I will.”

Once having heard his approval, she shifted herself downwards closer to the foot of the mattress so she could unbuckle his belt and unzip his pants. She gently pulled down his jeans to see the outline of his cock straining against a layer of white bandage. She unravels a small portion of bandaging and takes him in her hand, giving him a few slow pumps. She looks back up to him attentively, waiting for him to tell her if she was hurting him. Graham still had his brows furrowed and his lips were parted out slightly, but there was no sign of discomfort or pain in his face.

She bent down and licked him from base to tip, earning her a deep groan from him. She pressed her plush lips against the tip—then took it in her mouth and swirled her tongue around the underside languidly as she went along, making sure not to hurry her ministrations. She withdrew with a slight pop and stopped to catch her breath, while her hand was still readily stroking him. “Is this okay?” She asked him, looking up to see a flushed Graham, his chest heaving slightly.

“Yes,” he replied in a hoarse voice, and she resumed once more, this time taking him in a little deeper. He planted a hand in her hair as she slowly bobbed her head up and down. When she looked up to see him huffing out more intensely, she withdrew and got up to straddle him, one hand planted on Graham’s stomach for support and the other guiding his cock to her entrance. She slowly lowered herself down and stayed almost completely still until she was fully seated as he stretched her out deliciously. When she finally got accustomed to his size, she started to move her hips up and down. Graham grunted under his breath as he instinctually placed his hands on her hips and watched Rhea’s expressions with intense eyes. She started to move her hips faster, periodically slowing to grind slowly against his hips.

“Ah, fuck…” Rhea moaned out as she rode him in earnest, her lashes fluttering shut to fully immerse herself. Graham reaches up to take hold of a breast with his hand, teasing the nipple roughly as she bounced on top of him. She huffs out breathily in response, her lips remaining ajar as she took his cock in again and again.

Even though they had been keeping up a decently moderate pace, Rhea’s strength started to give out, and she eventually slowed down to more mellow movements. Seeing that the stamina in her hips was running out, Graham gradually sat up and carefully cradled the back of Rhea’s head and thigh as he moved over on top of her, his larger frame draping over her smaller one almost completely. He began to thrust steadily into Rhea as she shut her eyes in pleasure and wrapped her arms around his neck, her soft moans echoing about in the cave.

Casual sex was not a foreign pastime for the Courier, as she often found comfort and stress-relief in the arms of whoever happened to catch her eye. Despite that, Rhea has also had her fair share of meaningful encounters before, like that calm night before the Legion ambush at Bitter Springs with Boone—or that lovely little drunken night she spent under the stars with Cass after talking about their lives over a particularly large bottle of whiskey.

But, even so…there was something that felt _different_ this time. The way that Graham looked at her and treated her body with a silent and careful reverence made it feel like their connection was slowly transcending the boundaries of their purely platonic companionship. This wasn’t a thought that Rhea was going to fully entertain right now, though.

Rhea wrapped her toned legs around Graham as he began to quicken his pace and thrust deeper into her, causing her moans to trill and shake. She opened her eyes to find herself mere inches away from Graham’s face, his intense eyes watching her with a look of profound, burning desire that made her automatically tighten around him. He caught her lips in a heated kiss as he drove in relentlessly into her, and Rhea couldn’t help but let all her moans spill into his mouth.

“Rhea…” Joshua breathed out the Courier’s name as his thrusts start to get sloppier.

“Joshua…I’m gonna come,” Rhea whined in pleasure as she clung hard to Graham’s white button-up shirt, feeling that her second release was arriving closer over the horizon. Impatient to reach the height of her ecstasy, she hastily reached down between her legs to massage fast circles her clit. The combined sensations of both Graham’s efforts as well as her own finally coaxed a second orgasm out of her, rippling through her body like an electric shock.

As Rhea was still writhing and spasming around his cock, Graham subsequently let out a strained groan as he lets out his release inside, weak pumps of come filling her.

He withdraws from Rhea and falls over to the other side of the bed as Rhea panted heavily, both of them completely exhausted from their exertions. They lay in a long yet comforting silence beside each other for a little while, still soaking in the influx of dopamine coursing through their veins. Soon enough, the storm outside finally fizzled down into a brisk rain as Rhea sat up to pull a blanket over herself and Joshua, and she scooted over closer to him.

“Hello,” Graham breaks the silence in his stern but awkward little way, causing Rhea to giggle. He turns to face her, confused and embarrassed, but also amused from her reaction. She looks back at him with a warm smile, her face still flushed with a tinge of pink.

“So, have you…been with many women? You seem to, uh…” Rhea looked upwards, as if she was searching in the back of her brain for the correct words, “…know your way around, for lack of a better term.”

Graham chuckled. “It’s not something I am proud of, but I suppose you could say that—but only during my days as Legate. Of course, I don’t look back to those experiences with pleasure. During those times, I was…led astray. Under Caesar, my faith was clouded, and I often did things I now come to regret deeply,” he replied.

Rhea looked intently at him, a little bit taken aback by his answer initially, but her gaze softened after a few seconds. “I figured,” she says, stretching her arms upwards. “I’ve read about your religion’s customs before, and it seemed that sex was quite the sensitive topic…so I initially didn’t expect you to have that much experience,” she smiled wryly. Graham raised his brows and nodded slowly to her remark. Rhea’s eyes suddenly widened as she remembered a detail from her previous readings.

“Wait, is it true that New Canaanites practiced polygamy? Like, it was actually encouraged?” she perked up.

“That…we did,” Graham looked back at her in surprise, not expecting the Courier to know such details about his religion. “Well, ah, it’s not something I personally practice, if…you were wondering,” he replied. “But I have to say, I’m surprised you know that.”

Rhea laughed. “Surprisingly yeah, I do. But I’m sure you know by now I’m not your average caravan grunt,” she asserted playfully, folding her arms together.

Graham smiled and turned to face Rhea. “I know. You’re unlike anyone I’ve ever met before.”

The Courier felt a blush rise to her cheeks as she tried to stifle a grin that desperately wanted to blossom from his compliment. “Flatterer,” she jokingly scolded him, lightly slapping his shoulder. “You’re unlike anyone I’ve ever met too, Joshua.”

 _Hm. “Joshua”._ This was the first time she called him that.

Most people called him the Burned Man or referred to him fully out of respect or fear as Joshua Graham, but he hasn’t heard someone call him only by his first name in a long time. It briefly reminded him of a better time—a time when he wasn’t the Malpais Legate—a time when he wasn’t the Burned Man.

Maybe if he had met Rhea before everything went to hell in his life, the growing warmth that he felt for the Courier might have been less confusing for him than it is now.


End file.
